Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,250,000 shares, an increase of 17.4% from the March 15th total of 3,620,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Equitable

In other news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.66, for a total value of $1,129,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 695,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,174,641.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Equitable news, CEO Mark Pearson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.66, for a total transaction of $1,129,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 695,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,174,641.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.02, for a total transaction of $170,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 29,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,012,367.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 201,938 shares of company stock valued at $6,890,172. 1.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equitable

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Equitable by 107.1% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 812 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Equitable by 143.1% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Equitable by 126.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Equitable during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in Equitable by 1,421.4% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592 shares in the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Equitable from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Equitable from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Equitable from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equitable presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.67.

Equitable Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQH opened at $35.84 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.10. Equitable has a fifty-two week low of $21.89 and a fifty-two week high of $38.44.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.50 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Equitable will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. Equitable’s payout ratio is 26.04%.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy.